Funny how
cooking over the holidays usually pushes us to extremes. Either we put together a multi-course meal
for twelve distant relatives, or we throw up our hands and say, "eat
leftovers" or "let's order Thai." Even if it's only your nearest and dearest,
many of us (myself included) feel that we should make a special effort for the
big holidays—drag out grandmother's china and real cloth napkins, roast a (fill
in the blank), bake cookies and bread. I
persuaded my husband to bake a ham for Christmas this year (that was his
family's tradition; mine preferred turkey or roast beef), so I volunteered to
make dessert.
Here's the supermarket model |
"too much time on her hands, eh?" you're saying about now |
By now you
are thinking, was she insane? Ah, 'tis
the season for insanity. I crafted a make-shift cake
pan, I figured out the right measurements for the ingredients, and I was off to
the races.
Once I had
actually managed to bake the cake, I was faced with making the pieces of cake
match up so I could achieve the right checkerboard pattern. My biggest fear was that I would shave so
much off to make it perfect that the final cake would end up about two inches
across (in that event I planned to call it petit
fours. So I sacrificed precision,
just a bit. As a whole, it worked—and it
tasted good.
So if
you're ever in the mood to make a simple complicated cake, here's the recipe
(translated from the English):
2/3 cup
unsalted butter (room temperature)
2/3 cup
granulated sugar
3 eggs
(room temperature). beaten
2 Tblsp
whole milk (room temperature)
1 tsp
vanilla extract (or a mix of vanilla and almond)
1¼ cups
flour
½ tsp
baking powder
¼ tsp salt
Pink or red
food coloring
½ cup
seedless jam (apricot or raspberry)
Marzipan
Preheat the
oven to 400 degrees. Line your baking
pan or pans with foil and brush with melted butter.
Trim the
cakes to equal size, then cut in two lengthwise. Take one pink piece and one white piece and
"glue" them together with the jam.
Repeat with the second pair. Paint the top of the joined pieces with
jam, and "glue" on the second pair.
Roll out
your marzipan (one recipe called for a single 7-oz. package, which is what you
see most often in stores, but I wasn't sure how far it would go so I used
two). Paint the outside of your joined
cake pieces with the rest of the jam, then wrap it in marzipan. Stick the edges together on the bottom with a
bit of jam. (If you like, you can press interesting patterns onto the marzipan
with whatever tool you want.)
Trim off
the raggedy ends. Wrap in Saran wrap and chill for at least half an hour
(overnight is fine).
To serve,
slice carefully with a sharp knife.
Coming February 2013, the first in my new County Cork Mystery series.
You had me laughing out loud with the caption, "'too much time on her hands, eh?' you're saying about now". Looks great-but I know I'll never attempt it. As much as I like the look of checkerboard cakes-I'm much to lazy to try to actually make them!
ReplyDeleteThat's adorable Sheila, but I totally agree with Katreader--I can't imagine making it. But thanks for the fun reading and beautiful photos!
ReplyDeleteAdd a third to the consensus-great entertainment, but too much work Thanks for the fun
ReplyDeleteHuzzah!!! You are my hero, Sheila. What a great post. I applaud your sticking with your goal, despite the English-American/pan-challenged obstacles. There must be a Navy S.E.A.L. in you somewhere--adapt and overcome (with singular ingenuity), which makes for an inspiring run-up to the start of any new year.
ReplyDeleteBattenberg or bust!
~ Cleo
Sheila, I chuckled all the way through this. Especially when you made your own pan to suit the cake. That's Yankee determination! Love it. Okay, I admit that I would have done the same thing. Looks like a lovely cake. And as you say 'tis the season!
ReplyDelete~ Krista
Would it work with two loaf pans?
ReplyDeleteIt probably would, Anonymous--I was looking at little ones this week, and they measured just about 3x6". Of course, you can always trim them to square (and eat the trimmings!).
ReplyDeleteSheila, it's a pretty cake, yes, just like a present! Nice.
ReplyDeleteDaryl/ Avery
(PS Always eat the trimmings!) LOL